A new publishing player, Spines, announces that it wants to revolutionize the book industry by publishing 8,000 Books in 2025 using artificial intelligence. Founded in 2021, Spines, which launched its first titles this year, is a technology startup offering, for a fee, the use of AI to proofread, produce, publish and distribute books. The company charges up to $5,000 per book and can turn a manuscript into a publication-ready work in as little as three weeks.
Spines is not the only company wanting to innovate in publishing. In recent days, Microsoft launched its own publishing house, 8080 Books, claiming that “technology has accelerated almost every industry except publishing”. For its part, ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, plans to sell printed books in bookstores starting next year under its 8th Note Press label.
Fundraising and high ambitions
Spines recently raised $16 million. As of September 2024, the start-up had already published 273 titles, including 33 in a single day. “We want to publish up to 8,000 books next year. The goal is to help a million authors publish their works”said Yehuda Niv, CEO and co-founder of Spines, at Bookseller.
Niv explained that he perceived, three years ago, that AI was going to shake up the publishing world. At the time, he was running a hybrid publishing house in Israel, Niv Books. “I had two options: become obsolete because of AI or seize this opportunity to transform the industry”he confided.
Like 8080 Books, Spines stands out for its ability to drastically reduce publication times, going from 6 to 18 months on average to just 2 or 3 weeks. Services offered include proofreading, cover creation, metadata optimization, and limited translations (currently in Spanish).
Authors finance these services, but retain all of their rights and royalties, a model close to self-publishing. However, Niv clarifies that Spines “is not self-publishing, nor a traditional publishing house, nor self-publishing. We are a publishing platform, an entirely new concept. »
Criticisms and challenges to face
Automation nevertheless raises concerns, particularly regarding the potential impact on publishing professionals, such as proofreaders, designers or translators. Niv insists: “We are not replacing human creativity. We help authors publish in a more efficient and modern way. »
As average author earnings have fallen from 12,330 pounds in 2006 to 7,000 in 2022, some doubt the viability of investing up to $5,000 to publish a book. Niv defends another vision: “For most authors, it’s not about profit. It is a process of personal enhancement. To publish a book is to leave a trace, a legacy.” Spines plans to expand its services to creating audiobooks with synthetic voices and, eventually, voice clones of the authors themselves. “This feature is still under development,” specifies Lv.
It remains to be seen whether Spines’ model will have a lasting influence on traditional publishing. Anne Hervé, editorial consultant, believes that AI can alleviate certain repetitive tasks, such as processing metadata, but that it will never replace human creativity: “We need humans for the nuance and magic that the editorial process brings. »
The rise of Spines and other technology initiatives poses a crucial question: how will the publishing world evolve in the face of these rapid transformations?
Article published as part of a partnership with The Bookseller and initially published at this address.
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